


A Little Brighter

by Bates



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Asexual Castiel, First Date, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, Ice Skating, M/M, Winter, ace!cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 02:10:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5439545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bates/pseuds/Bates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean takes Cas out for their first date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Brighter

_If only you knew_

_The sunlight shines a little brighter,_

_The weight of the world’s a little lighter,_

_The stars lean in a little closer_

_All because of you._

**SLEEPING AT LAST // DAUGHTER**

 

 

Castiel was nervous. The kind of nervous that set his veins on fire and made bile rise up in his throat, the kind that had him shivering and sweating every few minutes. Also the kind that had him putting on every shirt he owned before he finally settled on a plain blue button down and a light sweater on top. If it was too warm, he could always take it off. 

This would be their first date. It had been…confusing to say the least. Castiel was a creature of habit, always stayed at certain places for certain amounts of time without change. It was probably how Dean had found him in the library. Dean had flirted with him that night, walked him home and asked him out on a date as if it had been nothing. As if it had been an everyday thing to do. For a guy like Dean, it probably was nothing, he probably had been on more than a dozen dates ever since starting high school and leaving for college.

It was something that couldn’t be said of Castiel. He’d only had one or two dates before, enough to realize that he really wasn’t into women at all. Sure, he’d have a good time but not a single one of those nights he’d thought that this what who he was into. Each time, he’d gone to the date with feeling that he’d just go hang out with a friend. Not a single of those times, he’d been nervous.

Now he was and it should say enough. Just like after Dean had asked him. When Dean was gone and the door closed, he was practically panicking and hyperventilating. James had thought that it was funny, how he’d reacted to just a date. _'What will you do if he kisses you Cas?'_ Just the thought made his stomach knot up with nerves.

“Cas, stop fidgeting,” James said from his spot behind the computer, typing away at whichever novel he was working on this time. His twin brother was sort of a geek that way. Castiel knew of at least three projects that he was working on for different classes and assignments. “You look fine, he’ll adore you.”

“You sure?” Because he wasn’t, far from in fact. Maybe the button up was too casual after all, maybe he should pick something a little bit more fun.

“Yes, Cas. Come sit here and let me fix your hair. I didn’t think that I’d still have to do this when we moved out Cas.” His brother had a gentle smile on his lips. "Aren't you old enough by now? To fix your own hair?"

“He should be here any minute now,” Cas sighed as his fingers combed through his hair. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. If he doesn’t, he’s missing out on something big time.” James smiled at him, popping up the collar of his shirt. “Trust me. You’re almost as nervous for dates as Zeno is for getting caught by the police.” Cas loved it when he made references to the novels that he was working on, if only because it made him feel like he’d thought of him or at least, as if he thought that Cas was worth sharing info with.

“What is he up to this time?”

“Burying a body,” he said, as casual as if he’d said that he was petting puppies, “but he’s been in this town too long. The police is catching up on him. He’s going again soon, just needs to break up with Alex first.” James sighed. "It's going to be a sad chapter. The teacher better cries when he reads it."

“Wait, I thought you liked Alex and him?” Authors sometimes puzzled him, even if James and he shared the same DNA.

"Oh, I do Cas, but Zeno is a drifter. He’s going from motel to motel all the time. Alex loves family, wants a family. They’d never work out.” Cas wanted to reply to that, that it was bullshit and that he was perhaps underestimating just how strong their love could be, when the doorbell rang. “There is he is. Go, have fun. Be back before six am or I will call. If you come home early, Ruby is picking me up to go to that one campus restaurant that is open until all hours, so I’ll be gone until around eleven I think.”

“Are you sure you can’t go instead of me? He’ll never notice.”

“Cas, be a man,” Jimmy said, even though he was  smiling. “You seem to forget I’m straight. Anyway, stay safe okay? And call if anything happens.”

“I’ll let you know,” he promised.

 

Dean had a soft smile on his lips and his leather jacket over his shoulders. Castiel didn’t know what about it made him relax, but something in his chest loosened at the sight. _Things were going to be okay. Dean wasn’t a murderer, he was just a friend and if this turned out really bad, they probably wouldn’t even see each other again._ Castiel really needed to get over himself.

“You good to go?”

“Yeah,” he said, let me just get my coat real quick. Five seconds.” Castiel smiled as an all too familiar black cat peeked its head around the corner, curious to see what the stranger was up to. “Dean, meet cookie.” Dean frowned at the name that his brother had chosen for his cat before he’d even picked her out. It was James’s cat and when James moved out, Cookie would go with him. He had to admit that he would miss the little furry thing. “She’s my brother’s cat.”

“I don’t think she likes me,” he said with a frown as Cookie went over to Cas, but completely skipped him over.

“Oh don’t worry. She just doesn’t like strangers. If you come by another time, she’ll probably come sit with you - especially if you have treats.” He laughed at that. "Seriously, if you want to come by one day, I'm just going to give you a bag of treats, she won't let you alone."

“Don’t forget your mittens. You’ll need them where we’re going.”

“Oh, okay?” Castiel was confused, royally confused. Where would he need mittens? “Let me get them. One second.” He knew he had some, somewhere, in the bottom of their winter bin. James had ‘created’ their winter bin when they moved into the apartment. He was convinced that it would be easier to throw all their winter scarves, hats, mittens and affiliated knitwear in there at the start of summer, so that they wouldn’t have to look too long for everything. It had proven to be more annoying than handy ever since, but both of them were too busy or otherwise occupied to find another place to store them.

With the both of them going to university at the same time, their parents had thought that they might as well get an apartment instead of staying in the dorms. Castiel wasn’t quite sure if that was just because of the fact that his father disliked the idea of college dorms or if it was just to show everyone that they had money enough. Knowing, his father it was the second.

He finally found them and stuffed them in the pockets of his coat. It wasn’t quite that cold outside yet. “I’m sorry for the wait, we’re good to go.”

“Let’s go then.”

 

  


 

Things were awkward at first. Castiel didn’t quite know what to talk about and Dean didn’t seem to know either. Soon enough however, he started talking about his car - his Baby - and how cassette tapes were so much better than CD. In all truth, Cas wanted to ask if that car was even allowed to drive around anymore, but he kept his mouth shut. The car looked old and worn down. 

Dean was very energetic when he talked about his car and the things he loved. Castiel loved seeing the smile that stretched across his lips. Seeing him relax made Cas relax as well. The knot in his stomach untied itself slowly.

“I’m sorry if I’m babbling, just stop me.”

“It’s fine. You seem to…love your car very much.” He didn’t know if anyone could really love a car. They were inanimate things, couldn’t offer affection like perhaps a cat would, or a dog. It was something that he’d probably never truly grasp.

“Yeah. My dad practically raised me with her, build it for me in fact. He got his hands on her when I was born as an investment and started restorating her. Allowed me to help with the little things and taught me all about cars that way.” Dean was smiling now. “Got her when I got my license. Has barely been on the road but she’s a beauty. Dad was lucky to find one with so little mileage.” He took him in. “Not to be rude here, but you don’t really seem the guy to like cars.”

“I’m not,” Cas admitted. “Cars aren’t exactly my thing. It’s more my brothers who grew up liking cars and even then, it’s just to show off.” Michael and Luke didn’t like cars the way that Dean did, thought of them more as just things. Things that cost a lot of money but they somehow didn’t seem to mind. As a symbol of status.

“Then what did you grow up liking Cas?”

“Books. I’m a literature major, would love to go into writing myself one day.” While his brothers had spend entire days hanging around with friends and spending time with significant others, Cas had been the guy taking his laptop out to the library to write a bit or read some books, do some research. “I basically grew up with my mother reading me stories before bed.”

“You’ll love Sammy. Trust me. He’s crazy about books and studying, and theater but that’s another thing.”

“They’re really connected actually,” he said, smiling, “he sounds like I was, growing up. Now, Dean where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Don’t be so impatient.”

 

  


 

But Cas was impatient and kept watching around to see where they were going the entire way there. He had to suppress a groan when they parked and he saw the ‘o _pen air ice skating rink!_ ’ banner strung between two trees. He could hardly keep the expression from his eyes however. Dean must have noticed.

“Please tell me you don’t have some kind of trauma because of ice skating,” he said, “because we don’t have to if you don’t want to - I just thought because it’s opening tonight and I know a few people there that.” He rubbed his hand across his face and something in the gesture told Cas that Dean too was a little nervous. “I should have probably asked before.”

“It’s fine,” Cas said, meant to be reassuring. “It’s…been a while. I hope you know someone at their first aid station.” Dean laughed at that. It was warm and comfortable, made warmth spread through him. “You should see Anna on the skates.”

“Yeah?” he asked as he paid and steered the two of them inside. “How so? What’s your shoe size by the way? I’ll go get us our skates.” Cas told him and sat down on one of the wooden benches, waiting for him to return. It didn’t take long, luckily. At least there weren’t too many people there, so if he fell not half the university would see him fail. Fail epically.

“Anna did ice skating for a few years,” he said when Dean sat down next to him. “Not professional or anything, but she was pretty good. If she’d gotten started earlier, I think she could have won competitions. She enjoyed it but eventually stopped because it really wasn’t her thing anymore.”

“Then why didn’t she teach you?”

“I never wanted her to,” he admitted sheepishly as he stood up, awkwardly trying not to lose his balance on them. “She tried to, twice, but I kept falling and getting bruises so I decided to just not skate. It’s the safest for everyone.”

“And now I’m here dragging back on the ice. I’m sorry man, if I’d have known I would have found something else for us to do.”

“Like I said Dean, it’s fine. I just hope you know someone at the first aid station and are prepared to help me get up again. Driving me to the hospital should I break a leg would be considerate.”

“Now, in that case they’ll probably call an ambulance, but I got you covered don’t you worry.” And oddly enough, he didn’t. “Skate around the side at first, I’ll help you out.” Cas did as Dean said and sticked around the edge for a bit, trying to get his barings on the skates.

He knew that he could do it. He’d done it before. It was just putting one skate in front of the other and trusting himself enough that he wouldn’t think that he’d fall every second. Having Dean there helped however.

Dean was a lot better at this than Cas was and it was painfully obvious. He was skating next to him, one hand ghosting behind him at the small of Cas’s back. It gave him a little bit of speed, made it just a little bit easier to stay upright.

“See that you can do it,” he said with a smile when Cas eventually let his only safety go - the railing had been his savior - and managed to do a full lap before going back to the side. “Are you ready to be a little bit more adventurous?” He wasn’t, he truly wasn’t, but allowed Dean to lead him away from the edge again.

Dean was considerate however, allowing Cas and his thick mitten covered hand to cling to his. Cas was sure that with how hard he was holding on, he was cutting off some blood circulation. He wished that he could apologize, that he didn’t mean to do it except he did. It felt safer and truth be told, he liked this. It was oddly intimate and different from how Anna used to help him out.

“Easy there Cas. Keep your mind on the skating.” Dean caught him by the waist, barely enough to keep him upright. He was still wobbly on his skates when he fell for the first time, just a few seconds after. “I see that this may not have been the best idea. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Cas sighed, scraping the ice off his pants after his sixth fall. He was sure that this time, he had a bruise or three. “Don’t worry.”

“Maybe we should get off the ice though.” He let his gaze roam over Cas’s figure before cursing. “Okay, I think you actually got cut this time let’s get you off off the ice.” He himself didn’t really feel the blood, but could see the dark red patch that was slowly becoming bigger.

“Yeah okay.”

 

  


 

Dean dropped him off at home an hour later, with a bandage on his knee and muscles that felt tired. He wasn’t used to being active anymore. It was just a little pathetic. Dean had wanted to take him to one of the stalls they sold hot chocolate, but there were just too many people waiting.

“You can say no,” Cas said, “but do you want to come in for a bit? It’s still early, we could watch a movie and have some hot chocolate, if you want that is.”

“If you’re okay with that, sure.”

“Okay, good. Why don’t you pick out a movie? They’re in the cupboard over there, I’ll get some milk on the stove.”

“You do know that there’s something that people tend to call 'instant hot chocolate powder', right? You just boil water and pour it over and bam, there’s the hot chocolate.”

“You’re one lazy human being,” Cas sighed, “home made is so much better. It’s actual chocolate with actual milk.” Cookie was eying him from the corner, where she was playing with something. Castiel honestly didn’t know where the little thing kept finding all her toys. The previous week they’d gotten an Amazon order in for Anna (she'd decided to ship it to their apartment instead of her dorm room) and Jimmy, Anna and he had been looking for Cookie for hours, until Anna gave up and wanted to go ahead and throw the box in the trash. Until the tiny meowing thing jumped out and curled up on the couch.

Dean stepped into the kitchen area, eyes falling to the family pictures hanging above the dinning room table. It hadn’t been Cas’s idea to hang them up, but he liked how they made the room feel. As if this was a form of home, as if they sort of belonged there. “Those all your siblings?”

“Yeah, try to see if you can find me in the bunch.” It was always fun, having people guess which one of them was James and which one was Cas. Even now, their landlord still confused the two of them and he was sure that one of their neighbors still thought that there was only one person living in the apartment. “

“Oh wow. I knew you had a twin but jesus Cas.”

“Oh I know. We’re a lot more different now than we were then. His hair is lighter and he’s taller than me. He was here earlier, but he’s out with friends right now.” Cas added the chocolate when the milk was finally warm enough and stirred, making sure to keep the chocolate from sticking to the bottom. “Do you want mini marshmallows? We still have some.”

“Yeah, sure.”

 

They were both sat on the couch with a blanket around their shoulders ten minutes later. Cas had set his on the table to cool down a bit and pulled his knees up to his chest. Dean had picked one of his favorite movies, to which he was grateful. There weren’t a lot of movies that Cas truly loved, but this was one of them.

“You’re right,” Dean sighed, “this is a lot better than powder.”

“Of course it is. Dean?” He hummed in answer. “Please wake me up if I fall asleep.”

“Do you want me to go? I mean, if it’s too late.”

“No, no, don’t worry.” Maybe he answered a little bit too fast. Truth was, he liked having Dean around. Things felt comfortable and good. Hell, there were butterflies fluttering around inside of him. He still had a lot of things to tell Dean, things about him that might put Dean off. He was asexual, it was something that not everybody dealt with well. It was still early though and this was their first date. He shouldn't get ahead on himself. Dean could still be uninterested. “It’s okay. I’m just a little tired. Do you have to drive long to get home?”

“An hour or so, it’s not too bad.”

“If it gets too late, you can stay over. We have a spare mattress I can sleep on, it’s no big deal.” Dean nodded in reply. Castiel was afraid that perhaps it was too soon to offer him to stay over. After all, this was literally their first date. It was sleeping in different beds in different rooms, but still.

He was too tired to care however and felt himself slip away deeper and deeper in sleep as the movie progressed. _He could take just a little nap._ He could feel himself slump against Dean and Dean running his fingers through his hair before he completely drifted off.

"Good night Cas," was the last thing he heard.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic and the art, please consider reblogging the posts on Tumblr ([Art](http://fightacrosstheconstellation.tumblr.com/post/135084364942/done-for-the-deancas-christmas-minibang-2015) || [fic](http://confusedjimmy.tumblr.com/post/135315994290/title-a-little-brighter-prompt-hot-chocolate).) Thank you for reading. ♥


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